Chapter 2: 2 – The First Floor and the Surface

After a few days passed and another Widow Ant was created, the first floor was extended by more than 450 meters, increasing my regeneration by 4.5 Mana to 27.3 Mana a Day.

And while Jack could keep expanding the width of the first floor, he wanted to increase the floor's height to around 50 meters to allow for the growth of large trees.

Jack's idea for the First Floor, which he called The Weeping Woods, was to essentially be a massive forest housing countless monsters that act as a Barrier against those that would want to delve into my Dungeon.

And because Jack wanted it to be a forest, he wanted to make sure the height of the floor would allow for large trees to grow and avian creatures to fly unimpeded.

While Jack could save up for more Monsters, he has been instead using his mana to erode the stone to create dirt before turning the dirt into the soil using his mana so that his plants had something to grow on when he started making the plants that would make most of The Weeping Woods.

Other than that, Jack wanted to know what situation he would be dealing with above the surface.

This is why he created a second Widow Ant.

Sure, he could have the Ant keep helping expand the floor, but Jack felt it would be better to have the Widow Ant leave the Dungeon and scout the Surface.

The only thing that stopped Jack from doing this even after Creating the Ant days ago was what could be waiting outside his Dungeon.

For all he knew, there could be a Civilization just waiting outside his front door or maybe even a wasteland based on how the System described the Inbetween.

But there was only one way to find out what lay above the Dungeon, and Jack must know to make preparations for whatever the surface would throw at his Dungeon.

This is why he created a second Widow Ant.

Sure, he could have the Ant keep helping expand the floor, but Jack felt it would be better to have the Widow Ant leave the Dungeon and scout the Surface.

The only thing that stopped Jack from doing this even after Creating the Ant days ago was what could be waiting outside his Dungeon.

And since Jack could actively see and use the senses of all his Monsters, he wanted to go with a Monster that should at least be able to last long enough to get a glimpse of the surface in case something went wrong.

Jack could even sense the thoughts and feelings of his monsters since they were all connected to the Dungeon, to him.

So with courage, the unnamed Widow Ant charged out of the Dungeon through the entrance of the Dungeon, expecting a fight.

However, Jack was surprised to see what lay above his Dungeon.

Before the Widow Ant's eyes was what looked to be a partially destroyed and overgrown city littered with strange debris and things that shouldn't be where they were, such as a Car lodged in the side of a hotel, some kind of strange stone structure near a church in the Distance, ruined cars and so much more was littered across the city.

And seeing that the Widow Ant was safe for the moment, Jack wanted to see just how weakened the Ant was now that it was no longer in its Dungeon.

Jack was somewhat surprised by seeing the Ant's physical stats being mainly halved from just taking a few steps outside the Dungeon.

At least the Monster's mana and Mind-related Stats were not affected.

If stepping outside the Dungeon made his Monsters dumber, that would have caused many future problems with Jack.

So having the Monster do a complete 360-degree turn around the hole that acted as the entrance into his Dungeon, Jack could see that his Dungeon seemed to be underneath a city of unknown size that appeared modern in design.

But this could be a good thing. The city would give Jack ample materials he could use in his Dungeon.

 The only thing that worried Jack was if there was anyone or anything still living in the city.

Sure, it would be good to have someone to delve into his Dungeon, but Jack's first floor was still under construction, and he was not prepared for Delvers, strong or not.

Something Jack did notice, however, was a large amount of life within the overgrown city.

Flocks of birds, Wild Animals tracking through the overgrown concrete Jungle, and so many unknown plants and trees.

"Can my Monsters and I gain EXP from slaying Animals?"

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[Monsters will obtain EXP from slaying entities, but the Dungeon Core will only obtain EXP if an Entity dies within the Dungeon]

With a command, Jack had the Widow Ant venture into the city and search for something to hunt and bring back to the Dungeon to test Jack's theory.

As the Ant traveled through the city, the stranger Jack found it.

Upside down buildings, cars cut apart like ribbons, apartments leaning like the Tower of Pisa, busses pointed towards the sky, and even sky scraps seemingly melded into each other, creating mismatched structures of varying colors, textures, and designs.

Soon the Widow Ant found what looked to be a small pond in the middle of a road surrounded by tall grass and reeds, giving the Ant a nice spot to wait and hide for something to get a drink.

And as Jack had the Ant wait, he refocused on his Dungeon, where he finally created his first plant.

For this, Jack used the Semi-Manual Creation for the first time and decided to test the extent to which he could use it.

So, first, Jack thought of an imposing Oak Tree with a thick trunk. Jack then imagined a swift growth from sampling to a full-fledged tree, then the aging process slowing down to normal. Jack then went on to imagine that the tree would produce many seeds for more Oak trees of the same kind.

Then Jack noticed the problem with doing this kind of Creation.

As the System said in Customization, creating a Plant or Monster manually leads to much more versatility and improvement than the stiffness and difficulty of using an Image and letting the System do all the work.

However, what Jack did notice was the difference in Mana efficiency. Creating this tree barely cost 15 Mana.

Using his Observe Skill, Jack took a look at the Sapling.

"Wait...it can level?"

"How the hell is a tree supposed to kill a Delver?" 

[As a Dungeon, you can give your EXP to your Dungeon Inhabitants to assist in their growth and evolutions]

Jack thought of this as a neat feature since, in the distant future, he would be able to fuel the growth of any Monsters he created with his EXP alone.

It would be a way of keeping essential Monsters safe from harm and allowing them to get to a certain stage of strength before they would fight Delvers.

Focusing back on the Ant, Jack watched as it lunged out from the grass it hid in and chomped its mandibles into the leg of what looked to be a large albino stag. Then, with futile effort, it tried pulling the large beast to the Dungeon, but with its decreased strength, it was the one dragged.

Seeing the amusing scene of a large ant being dragged down the street by the fleeing Stag, Jack couldn't help but burst out laughing upon seeing the comical scene.

So, wanting to give the Ant a little help, he suggested it take a bite at all of its legs so that it couldn't run anymore.

And since the Stag was already limping, it was slow enough for the Ant to let go of its hind leg and quickly lung towards the other hind leg.

The deer 'screamed' upon having its other hind leg chomped into as it fell to the ground and began trying to crawl away with its front legs.

Grabbing onto one of its hind legs, the Ant dragged the Stag back to the Dungeon, which took around 30 minutes due to the Stag's weight.

When the Stag was in the Dungeon and on the first floor, I instructed the Ant to kill it.

With a single chomp onto the Stag's head, it died.

"So the exp is split between me and the monster that kills the delver."

"But what if multiple monsters fight a deliver together?" Jack questioned, wondering if there would be a disadvantage of having multiple monsters fight a single delver.

 It seems like the EXP would be split between the participants, although he did not know that for sure, so he sent the Widow Ant out again to hunt down another animal and bring it back to the Dungeon.

While the Widow Ant went out to hunt for more animals, Jack watched as the sampling slowly but visibly grew and the deer acted as great fertilizer when Jack hastened the decomposing process with Mana.

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